Two petitions regarding second appeal actions

1. Click HERE for second appeal to help squirrels2. Click HERE for second appeal to end chimpanzee experimentation

1. Background | Source IDA

The firefighters’ oath of protecting lives doesn’t mean anything in Orleans County, New York as their fire department is gearing up for a “squirrel shoot ’em up” event on February 16!

The fire department in Holley, New York is sponsoring the seventh annual “Squirrel Slam,” an annual event organized for the mass killing of squirrels, with prizes given to the individuals who kill the largest and heaviest of the animals, often the pregnant females.

This year, the squirrel killing contest has a “youth” category for children 14 years and under, and is offering big cash prizes for kids and adults.

While grey and red squirrels are the primary victims of these appalling killing contests, the children are also victims. Encouraging kids to kill animals for fun teaches them that animals do not have any value other than serving as targets; that one can make money from blasting away defenseless animals; and that killing and suffering inflicted on animals is not only acceptable but is encouraged.

There is no telling how many squirrels will be killed at this event but is certain that many of these little animals will be wounded, some of them left to crawl away to suffer and die slowly. Females will likely be pregnant, and some may well have recently given birth, only to be killed and leave their young alone to starve to death.

Update

Dear compassionate friends,

As you all know the petition was delivered to Mayor and we have records that it was received at 9:36am on Feb 11 2013. The Mayor of the city of Holley received the petition and letter from Hand4Paws and Julie Gallagher. Sadly, the hunt did happen and although concerned citizens from Friends of Animals were there to protest. Fellow Animal Rights Activist Joy Benson has started a new Facebook page that targets all animal killing contests through out the USA. This needs immediate action and it needs the implication of all us in order to have these hunts end once and for all.

The following are links of news articles that covered the squirrel slam event. These sites were found and kept track by our friend Joy Benson and friends.

We want to thank all the people involved in these campaign and we would like to say to them that people involved in being active for animals inspire us all. We started only a petition…but because of the love you all have for animals you made this cruel event make the news nation wide. Thank you for giving your voice to animals. Never give up!

In January, 2013, a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-appointed panel of experts unanimously recommended steps that would lead to the retirement of most government-held chimpanzees from laboratories to sanctuaries. While not a complete ban on chimpanzee research, it is an enormous step forward and represents a stunningly positive shift in philosophy for the NIH.

Chimps at IDA Africa

credit: Jacques Gillon, IDA Africa

We’ve never been this close to getting chimpanzees out of labs and we can’t ease up now. But we want them ALL retired. No Chimp Left Behind!

The “Report from Council of Councils Working Group on Use of Chimpanzees in NIH-Supported Research” recommended that almost all of the 451 chimpanzees “owned” or supported by the NIH who are now at research facilities should be permanently retired from research and moved to sanctuaries. This is great news!

However, the panel called for holding on to 50 chimpanzees – denying them the freedom the experts admit is ethically required – just to keep them available for experiments in the future. This is not acceptable, and goes against the growing scientific consensus that chimpanzee research simply is not necessary. And the panel failed to advocate for freeing the estimated 350 chimpanzees who are imprisoned and tortured in privately-operated laboratories.

too many innocent animals
get a rotten deal,
please sign and share
each second appeal.
and if that is not enough,
do sign some more,
until animal cruelty
is out the door!!!!

you should learn to mind your own business.you tend too your squirrel population and we,ll tend to ours.squirrels are just rats with bushy tails.how many rats do you want in and around your house.squirrels are destructive and delicious too.all of you who think fema should stop funding this fire dept.should have to list your names and addresses at your closest fire dept so when your home catches fire.the fire dept can refuse to bring their equipment to help you.i bet the chicken you had for diner didn,t have plans to die for you either.you are way out of line.i have never heard a squirrel complain about being weighed or even about the boiling bath with onions and garlic either.

Robert, wildlife and the environment is everyone’s interest. It is not owned by Holley or any other community regardless of who owns the land that a particular dispute is targetting.

It’s unfortunate that you think of squirrels as “rats with bushy tails”. Squirrels are actually not like rats at all. They are so much more intelligent than rats and so much less prone to disease. They are not scavengers that eat garbage nor do they go into dark and dirty places to nest. They love to interact and play with one another and there is a hierarchical order to their drays (groups). They store up food for later use while a rat will eat everything it finds. Not sure if rats semi-hibernate in winter as squirrels do. Squirrels are nothing at all like rats!

While it is true that squirrels are more closely related to other rodents than rats, rats are also very intelligent (and have been proven to be capable of having compassion for each other). Let’s be kind to all our rodent friends. :)

As you all know the petition was delivered to Mayor and we have records that it was received at 9:36am on Feb 11 2013. The Mayor of the city of Holley received the petition and letter from Hand4Paws and Julie Gallagher. Sadly, the hunt did happen and although concerned citizens from Friends of Animals were there to protest. Fellow Animal Rights Activist Joy Benson has started a new Facebook page that targets all animal killing contests through out the USA. This needs immediate action and it needs the implication of all us in order to have these hunts end once and for all.

The following are links of news articles that covered the squirrel slam event. These sites were found and kept track by our friend Joy Benson and friends.

We want to thank all the people involved in these campaign and we would like to say to them that people involved in being active for animals inspire us all. We started only a petition…but because of the love you all have for animals you made this cruel event make the news nation wide. Thank you for giving your voice to animals. Never give up!